Dawn Of The Dead
by kidkutt17
Summary: Elsa wakes up in a car crash to find the world around her changed. Not knowing what to do she sets out to find her sister and has to cope with the changing world around her .On the way, she bonds with an unlikely group of survivors, and they have to do what they can to stay alive and protect each other. Whom can she trust? Who are friends and who are foes?
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own these characters  
**

 **Chapter One- A New Dawn**

* * *

The hottest day of the summer so far was only in it's infancy a drowsy silence hung over the highways that led to the usually bustling area of Huntsville. Cars that usually stood gleaming brightly under the glow of the sun now stood dusty and uncared for in their garages or out on the porches. The lawns that were once emerald and lively now looked parched and yellowing. Deprived of their usual car-washing and lawn-moving activities, the inhabitants of the area had retreated back into their respective houses and most, if not all, had turned on the air conditioners, no doubt to try and battle the scorching heat of the four'o clock sun. The only vehicle left outdoors was a jet black Porsche car that swiveled through the deserted streets. There were only two people occupying the vehicle: one being the driver and the other a girl sitting in the passenger seat, gazing out of her window as they drove along.

She was a skinny, blonde-haired, rather constrained looking young woman and she wore an expression akin to someone who's mind was someplace else and couldn't care less about the world around her. Her top was neatly kempt and skinny jeans hugged her legs closely, almost looking as if it had been painted onto her skin itself. Her sweater lay next to her, folded neatly and placed on top of one of her trunks since she had no need for it after exiting the cool , air conditioned airport building nearly two hours ago. Everything about Elsabeth Árnadalr looked every bit how one would expect someone from her social class to appear and yet, she was nothing like how she seemed at first glance. True, she was never considered to be free spirited nor was she known to be easy going. No—that position belonged to her younger sister of course. But Elsa was nowhere as uptight and snooty looking as some of the other people she'd grown up having to consider as 'friends'.

'I reckon you didn't enjoy your flight then?', Kai spoke as he adjusted the rear-view mirror to get a better view of his passenger.

Kai was Elsa's chauffer and caretaker whilst she attended her university in Atlanta. He was a big, beefy man with large, inquisitive looking eyes, a non-existent neck and sparsely distributed auburn hair. His most prominent facial feature was perhaps his bulbous nose that stuck out , making sure it caught everyone's attention.

'I'll take that as a yes then…', he remarked with a sigh, bringing Elsa out of her thoughts. Silence was always a neutral option.

'The weather's not too bad this time around. I'm sure you'll be back to normal in no time, Miss Elsa.', Kai remarked, glancing at her through his rear-view mirror and giving her a small smile.

Elsa grimaced at her, trying not to be rude. But she just wasn't in the mood for any small talk. Pursing her lips, she leaned her head against the window sill and watched the landscape passing by as they drove out of the town and onto the main highway.

For a while, a strange silence hung in the air as Kai kept his eyes on the road(occasionally flitting to his rear-view mirror) and Elsa's gaze fixed upon the yellowing grasslands on the sides of the vacant highway.

'You know, Miss Elsa. It wouldn't hurt to lighten up a little. Tell me what's bothering you. Perhaps I might be of some help.', Kai remarked as he changed gears, increasing the speed at which they were moving.

Elsa let out a defeated sigh. Was she really that bad at concealing her own emotions?

'Don't worry about it, Kai. I'm fine.' Elsa bluffed. 'Just a little tired.'

For a few seconds, he merely gave her fleeting glances through the mirror as he pursed his lips.

'You do realize that I know you well enough to know when you're not telling me the truth? ', he answered.

When no reply came from his passenger, Kai decided to try and change the topic to get Elsa to speak.

'I was having quite the eventful few days while you were away, Miss Elsa.' He remarked nonchalantly.

Elsa immediately caught onto what he was trying to do but she decided to play along anyway. Being moody and slouchy to him just wasn't fair when he'd done nothing wrong.

Shifting in her seat, she straightened her back and gave her best attempt to put up an interested expression on her face. Seeing a positive response, Kai smirked to himself.

'I was just headed back to my apartment after eating out the day you left to visit back home. I wasn't feeling all that well and to be honest, I'm rather glad I hadn't taken the car out .', he continued , glancing backwards over his shoulder at Elsa as he spoke.

'So I decided to call me a cab for the night . And you know how hard it is to catch one fellow for a ride these impatient lot these millenials…. Anyway, when I finally managed to catch a cab, there was another fellow in there too and he looked mighty uneasy or summat…I could tell there was something off with the fellow—you know how I have these vibes about people. '

As he continued his story, Elsa's eyes momentarily shifted to the passing landscape around them and as she stared out the window, she caught sight of a squad of police vehicle, maybe seven of them, along with two ambulances speeding away from the city, in the opposite direction. There was even a police chopper following them, soaring a few dozen feet above the ground as they all raced away . Not giving it much thought, Elsa shifted her attention back to Kai as he continued his story.

'—and so we were only seven minutes down the avenue when all of a sudden, we saw these red and blue lights flashing madly around us and before we knew what was happening, two police vehicles came up in front of the cab and hauled us up. The cabbie wasn't looking too well at the sight of the cops. Began taking an inhaler, the poor fellow. '

'And then they came up and handcuffed the bloke sitting next to me. He was apparently running away after he'd killed his wife cold blooded. He kept crying and kicking out like a fussy baby on an airplane. And the funny part was that he kept saying it wasn't him that did it when the bloody cops had apparently come in on the scene and seen him in the act as he was dumping her body out of his truck it seems!' Kai exclaimed with a tone that showcased how much in disbelief he was.

'Man…', Elsa muttered , for a lack of a better expression to convey her thoughts on the whole story.

'It goes to show that people will up and go mad when they know their life's over…' Kai finished with a sense of mundane finality.

For a few seconds, the two of them kept silent but the silence didn't last long as Kai began another story, as if he'd made up his mind to not let Elsa to her moody thoughts again.

'Oh! I have another good one for you,Miss Elsa! This one's a little less depressing and a bit more hilarious if I do say so myself. This other—', he said as he looked at Elsa over his shoulder as he spoke, his eyes completely off of the road in front of him.

As he continued his story, Elsa's gaze momentarily shifted away from Kai's face to something that caught her eye . It was ahead of them, fifteen feet away . It slowly trudged onto the wide roadway and it did not seem to be in a hurry whatsoever. A person. He seemed to be a high school jock or something, Elsa guessed from the sports jacket and crew didn't even turn his head at the sound of an incoming rapidly moving vehicle and by the time Elsa's brain registered what was happening, it was too late.

' KAI!' Elsa yelled , pointing ahead, her heart racing as Kai cursed and tried to serve out of the way of the pedestrian to no avail.

Elsa couldn't make much of what happened but she was sure she heard the sound of their vehicle slamming hard into the person in front of them before it screeched and wheeled towards the iron railing on the sides of the road . She barely had time to blink before the front of the vehicle crashed into the railing and due to the pure momentum at which they were traveling, the vehicle flipped over vertical and rolled over the safety railing .

Everything happened so fast. The vision around her was getting too hazy and she couldn't make sense of anything that was happening. Her trunks and everything else next to her began flying around in the back seat. She barely managed to catch sight of the windshield cracking and giving way before she felt herself flying off from her seat . The last thing she felt was a sharp pain on the crown of her head and then the world around her went black.

* * *

The first thing she felt was the throbbing of her right temple and a vague numbness on her head. As soon as he brain began processing information, she came to realize that she was lying down and from the feel of the leather pressed up against her cheek, presumably on the seat of the was a dull ringing in her ears and the salty taste of some liquid on the right edge of her mouth.

Letting out a soft disembodied groan, Elsa's eyes slowly flitted open, struggling against the weight her eyelids were exerting, begging her to close them again. Her vision was foggy and everything around her was rather bright and hazy. She slowly began moving her neck, and immediately took notice of the pain that shot through her body as she tried to do so. Blinking a few times to try and adjust her hazy vision, she noticed the dented ceiling and the fact that she was lying on the glass window with her neck and face pressed up awkwardly against the seat at a right angle. Slowly shifting around , she noticed her trunk lying open on top of her feet.

"Urgh… God…" she mumbled as she jogged her memory, remembering the crash.

There was the distinct scent of kerosene in the air and from the looks of it, it was midday. She probably hadn't been knocked out that long since it didn't look like time hadn't passed at all. Her throat felt peculiarly dry and parched. And the bottle she'd carried with her lay next to her, cap open and it's contents long gone. Great.

Forcing herself to ignore the pain shooting through her body, she sat upright and yanked her trunk off of her feet, freeing herself . Having done so, she shoved it aside . She looked up to notice that she'd been right about her guess and she was sitting on the window of the car which was pressed down on the grassy ground. Craning her neck around towards the driver's seat, she noticed the absence of her guardian.

'Kai? Are you okay?' she called out weakly.

No answer.

The windshield was shattered to pieces and the front door seemed to be torn off it's hinges. Slowly, she tried to stand up in the car and reached out towards the doorknob of the door above her. The knob moved but the door did not open. She tried again, yanking it rapidly but it yielded the same result. Letting out a sigh of defeat, she decided to try and crawl her way out towards the front seats of the car . Having done so, she stumbled out of the door and onto the yellowing grass, almost loosing her footing but managing to hold on.

She needed water but there didn't seem to be any department store for miles. She dug her hand into her jeans pocket and pulled out her phone, only to find that the device, strangely enough, had run out of charge. The only thing she saw was her own disheveled reflection staring back at her. She couldn't see much because of the sun's glare but she managed to catch sight of the cut on her forehead and the dried blood the had oozed all along the side of her face and into her mouth. Ew. So _that's_ what that salty liquid was.

She walked around the wreckage of the car that was far beyond any hopes of repair to find no sign of her guardian anywhere. Where the heck was he?

Elsa held her hands up over her brows to provide some shade to her eyes as she squinted, looking around the vicinity for any sign of him.

"Kai!" she called out , but no answer came.

Kai was nowhere to be seen, she had no charge on her phone and there were no vehicle that seemed to be passing by on either sides of the road. She decided to prioritize and try and find some place where she could call for help . Scouring the landscape, her heart skipped a beat as something that looked like a house came into view, at least a kilometer away. It didn't look like much they _had_ to have a phone she could use to call for help at least.

Deciding to head there first , she moved towards the back door of the upturned car and yanked hard at the door . It took her several frustrated attempts to finally break it open and she reached for her backpack, cramming everything she needed for the moment. Having done so, she began trudging along towards the house that loomed in the horizon , ignoring the shots of pain in her leg with each step.

It seemed like she'd been walking for hours and the only other sound that her ears picked up besides her own panting was the sound of her feet shifting across the hot tar road. As she drew nearer, she noticed that the place was something like a ranch of sorts, with a horse stable at the back and everything. There were no vehicles there however, besides the one tractor that lay forgotten near the backyard.

The house was rather plain simple looking, with wooden walls and floorboards and a vacant swinging chair in the front. From what she could see through the window, the lights were off and there was no sign of any life or sound that came from within the walls.

She reached out a knocked on the front door but as soon as she rapped her knuckles the first time, the door simply creaked and shifted open a few centimeters.

'Um.. Hello?Anybody home? I need a little help! ', Elsa called out cautiously , knocking on the door a second time. No answer came. Strange.

'Can I come in?' Elsa called out a little louder this time, just to check if she actually was alone and wasn't intruding into someone's home.

When no reply came, she took that as confirmation of her theory and moved the door fully open, stepping inside and shutting it behind her. If nobody really was home, she could maybe find a phone and call for help and leave before anybody found out she was here. And she would leave a few dollars for her use of the phone. It wouldn't really be stealing then, would it?

She was now standing in a plain looking living room with a sooty fireplace right across the room. There were a few sets of wooden furniture lying around haphazardly in the room and the wooden floorboards creaked as Elsa stepped forward. A magazine lay open on the floor and a few framed photographs of a family of four sat on the mantelpiece atop the fireplace. A middle aged man and woman with graying hair, a teenaged son with brown hair and a young woman who didn't look much older than Elsa. All in all, they had the looks of a simple farming family. Elsa hoped they weren't on their way back from wherever they were as she moved along the room, towards the landline telephone set she spotted on a wooden table near the fireplace.

She reached out and picked up the phone and just before she was about to dial, she paused. Then she continued. She chose to try calling her mother's phone instead of her father(he probably wouldn't have picked it up anyway). She clicked and waited. For almost a whole half minute, there was no sound that came from the earpiece .

'Shit.. ', she cursed under her breath, this time trying Anna's number and again, there was no response. The phone was dead. What the hell was happening?

In a fit of frustration, she slammed the phone down a little too loudly and clenched her teeth. It was then , when she stood there not knowing what to do that her stomach growled loudly and her brain registered the insatiably hunger clawing at her insides, something she just was too distracted to notice up until now. But she didn't have any food in her backpack. On instinct, her eyes shifted towards the dining area , where the circular wooden table and chairs stood invitingly .

As she stood there, arguing with the voice in her mind that was egging her on, her legs began to develop a mind of it's own and began to carry her towards the kitchen area, where the refrigerator stood passively, waiting for her to open it.

She struggled a little to yank it open, for she was too dehydrated and weak from starvation but the moment she laid eyes on the contents within, her stomach developed a mind of it's own and began controlling her arms , grabbing at anything it could find .

And before she knew what was happening, Elsa was already seated and the dining table, a plate in front of her, wolfing down cheese and jam sandwiches one after the other, all the while gulping down the bottle of milk next to her. By the time her stomach felt contented , she'd already downed over nine loaves of bread and anything else she could find. Feeling a little bad for pillaging on the food of somebody else , she reached into her bag and placed a fifty dollar note under the plate for when the family came back and found the food supply gone. At least they'd have enough money to replace what Elsa had just wolfed down.

As she washed away the dirt and dried blood on her hands and face in the sink, all of a sudden, she thought she heard the floorboard outside creak. She turned off the tap and stood silently, listening intently to make sure her mind hadn't just made up the sound. Then it came again. And this time it sounded like someone walking over the wooden flooring outside the house. Wiping her hands quickly on her jeans, she slung her backpack over her shoulder , making her way towards the front door, making up various ways in her mind on how to apologize to the family for breaking into their house .

But as she reached the front door, to her confusion, there was no family standing there in the doorway with looks of shock on their face. In fact, there was no one there. She was sure she'd heard someone moving around—walking around . She moved forward and pushed the door open, walking out onto the front porch. As she looked around the yellowing grounds, her heart almost skipped a beat. There _was_ in fact, someone there at the house besides her. But it was not anyone she recognized from the family photograph from earlier. That being said, it wasn't someone she _didn't_ recognize either. His oval figure, thick neck and balding head with patches of ginger were all too familiar even if he stood with his back to her.

'KAI!' Elsa exclaimed in a mingled sense of happiness and disbelief as she trotted down the five stair steps and onto the graveled front yard where he stood.

At her voice, Kai began to turn around towards her . As she laid eyes on him, she couldn't tell what it was but something in her gut began prodding her, telling her something was not right. Her eyes traveled up his face , pausing momentarily upon seeing the dirt and blood stains on his disheveled clothing and on his hands. She involuntarily stopped in her tracks as her bright blue eyes met with Kai's bloodshot gaze. There was a pungent smell ripe in the air and , strangely enough, it seemed to be coming off of Kai himself . It took Elsa a few seconds to notice the things different about him. For one, his usually plump , smiling face was now wearing a vague, vacant expression and his eyes were sunken inwards, glassy looking and unfocused . His skin seemed slightly yellowing and waxy and bore the look of an unhealthy, sickly person.

As his eyes fell on her, his mouth twitched and drooled in an inhuman manner, as if craving for something. The pungent smell leaking off of him made Elsa's stomach churn and she had to clench her teeth to not vomit on the spot . As she watched, Kai slowly began edging towards where she stood , rooted to the began limping, rather dragging his feet and bared his yellowing teeth at her like a carnivorous animal would to it's prey. As he dragged himself to her, a low, coarse growl elicited out of his throat . Elsa gazed at him in a confused manner as Kai stared back in a way he had never done before.

When they were a bare five feet away from each other, Kai lifted his arms up, outstretched as if he was struggling to do so. With every step, his raspy breath grew closer and closer and as Elsa stood there, gaping at the sunken face in front of her, he grabbed at her arm with his gnarly, blackened fingers and began pulling it towards his mouth as he bared his teeth open.

While her mind was frozen in a state of shock, her body took control and in a spur motion, Elsa swung her backpack at Kai, bashing it straight into the side of his face with enough momentum to send him stumbling backwards. Once she was free of his grasp, Elsa began backing away as Kai regained balance and began advancing on her, this time his intention a lot clearer as he growled menacingly at her and clawed at the air as he stomped over.

Her heart hammering against her chest, Elsa backpedaled and bolted back the way she came, heading straight into the kitchen , trying to find a hiding place from whatever it was that was stalking her. Droplets of sweat began collecting along her skin as her eyes failed to find a suitable area. Turning on her heel, she was about to run back out the entrance door, only to screech to a halt upon seeing the creature dragging itself into the living room of the house.

Now panicking, she stumbled backwards and leapt up the staircase and threw herself into the first open door she laid eyes on, slamming it shut behind her. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she backed away from the door until she was pressed up against the wall. Her mind was too caught up on trying to make sense of what was happening that she hadn't noticed that she was standing in what looked like the master bedroom of the house.

As she stood there in the nervewracking silence, the only sounds her ears picked up were that of her own ragged breathing and the slow, unsavory creaks of the creature coming up the stairs . As she looked around the room from a way out, her she laid eyes on something else in the room that made her mouth dry.

She let out an involuntary scream and paced backwards in cold terror as she spotted another creature that bore all the same characteristics that Kai had. The only difference was, it was trapped, strapped to the iron window bars with thick rope . In her sudden shock, she stumbled backwards knocked over the lamp shade that stood on the bed side table. As it crashed to the floor, the sound echoed through the room and not a moment later, the door burst open and the creature that looked like Kai stood in the doorway, it's raspy breaths quickening as it laid eyes on Elsa. Then it all happened too fast.

Within seconds, the grotesque, rotting figure of Kai was on top of her, snapping menacingly at her as Elsa did whatever she could to keep him from sinking his teeth into her flesh. Her heart thrashed against her ribs as she scream in terror, fighting the thing on top of her. As she struggled against his massive body weight, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a hunting rifle lying on the floor a few feet away from the creature that was tied up to the window.

Mustering up all her strength, she kicked out at Kai, her foot planting itself squarely on his chest and sent him stumbling backwards , colliding into the door behind him which snapped off it's hinges under the momentum. Seizing the opportunity, Elsa scrambled to her feet and leapt over the bare mattress , onto the other side and grabbed the gun. Having done so, she spun on her heel a little too fast, tripped over herself and fell onto her back as Kai advanced on her, his arms outstretched. As her back hit the floor, a loud , resounding ' _bang'_ echoed through the walls of the house.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. There was a strange sense of stillness in the air. Then, Kai's knees gave way and his pungent body crashed onto the floor, his head inches away from where Elsa sat crouched, her back pressed up against the wall. Elsa didn't move. Her clammy palms still tightly gripped around the rifle in her hand. She expected Kai to get back up and claw at her again but he didn't move. Not this time. There was a large, gaping hole in the center of his forehead, out of which a thick, blackish liquid oozed out , trickling down his brow and onto the floor. She stared at the unmoving body , too shocked to react . Unable to hold it in any longer, she threw up in front of her, repulsed at the sight . Wiping her mouth on her jacket sleeve, her eyes traveled down to the gun still in her grasp. She let out small shriek and tossed the gun aside onto the bed , eyeing it with terror. She killed Kai. She'd _killed_ someone.

As the realization dawned on her, she wrapped her arms around her knees and began sobbing into her pants. She'd killed a man. Worst of all, someone she'd known all her life. It had all happened so fast that she didn't know what was happening. Her sobs seemed to have awakened the other creature in the room and he also gave of a pungent, rotting stench as he moaned and clawed mindlessly at the air, trying to reach at Elsa. She jerked in fright and shifted herself as far away from it's grasp as possible.

She blinked back the tears and gazed at the thing as it sat there on the opposite end of the room, clawing. She hadn't noticed it before but now she recognized him. He was the teenaged son from that picture of the family that owned the house. If this was what happened to him, she didn't want to think where all the others were. Her gaze shifted to a point just above the creature's head. There sat a marker board placed on the window sill with the words ' _Do not get close'_ etched onto it and it looked like it'd been scribbled on in a hurry.

Her eyes traveled down to the unmoving body at her feet. No. She wasn't a killer. Whatever the thing was, it certainly could not be Kai. He'd never hurt her, least of all try to eat her alive. Plus, it had a rotting scent to it. It almost bore a scent similar in some ways, but a lot more distinct to a dead body. What the hell was happening?

Licking her lips which were almost cracked dry, she quickly moved out of the room, not turning back and hurried down the stairs and out of the house. The longer she stayed there, the more sick she'd feel.

Once outside, she took in deep lungfuls of the open air , trying to dispel the disgusting smell of rotting flesh from her nostrils. Having caught her breath, she decided to try and get to the city to find out what the hell was happening. There had to be answers there. It had to be some new kind of sickness or something. She gazed around the yard and mentally cursed as there was no vehicle around the area for her to use. Well, there was the tractor still there but that really was not an option. As she stood there, racking her brains on how to get to the city, she heard the distinct neigh of a horse coming from the barns around the back of the ranch.

As she made her way towards the back yard of the ranch, a moderate sized barn came into view and along with it came the distinct scent of manure and hay. The stables looked pretty empty and there was wet hay strewn all over the dank ground. She let her ears lead her towards the stall that contained the one horse still left in the barn. It was a black stallion who's sleek coating glistened in the few rays of sun that managed to sneak inside. Catching sight of Elsa, the horse blinked and let out an impatient snort, as if wondering why she wasn't opening the door.

Her gaze shifted down to the floor around the animal and noticed the stacks of hay and bucket of water still unfinished. So that means it hadn't been that long since the family who lived in the house had disappeared.

Slowly opening the door, she edged inside, trying her best to calm down and not let her mind wander back to the images of the rotting creatures upstairs in the house. Her tense energy would just rile up the horse as well.

As she attempted to near the animal, it neighed and reared up, shaking it's head.

'Heeey..It's-It's alright boy.I'm a friend.. Y-You wanna get outta here?' Elsa remarked quietly, trying to sound calm.

After a few failed attempts to get close to him, Elsa now stood there, gently rubbing his face to let him know she meant him no harm. As she stroked his face, she noticed the saddle propped up on the stable wall.

About ten minutes later, she was back out on the highway, her fingers secured around the reins as she steered the horse towards the direction in which the big city was located. There was nothing to be seen for miles and the hot sun was not helping either. The horizon seemed endless and permanently out of reach. Not a single vehicle, car nor truck could be seen . Where was everyone?

After almost three hours , Elsa had drained the last droplet of water she'd taken from the ranch before leaving. And she didn't have any spares left. She could just make the horse run towards the city, but that would just make him grow tired and that's not something she wanted.

Try as she might, she couldn't shake the image of those— _things_ back up at the ranch. There was no way it was Kai, was there? It defied all logical thinking. For one thing, whatever it was, it lacked all common human behavior. Then there was the fact that it's skin seemed like it was decaying. And also, it tried to eat her alive. There was a voice in her mind that propped up the thought that maybe it was just a hallucination from the hunger she'd been experiencing .

Letting out a sigh, she placed the bottle back into her backpack and zipped the bag shut. Upon looking back up towards the horizon, something in the distance caught her eye. It was on the opposite lane of the highway . Squinting her eyes to get a better look against the setting sun, her heart skipped a beat as she recognized the familiar shape of a public bus . With a renewed sense of relief, she whipped the reins and the horse obeyed, picking up speed and galloping faster up the tar road.

After what seemed like hours, they were finally beginning to near the area and from what she could see, it hadn't moved an inch yet. Probably parked there or something. But why would anyone park their vehicle in the middle of the road though?

Elsa yanked at the reins as they drew close to the bus. To her bewilderment however, the bus was not alone in it's stationary position. From what she could tell, at least a dozen more vehicles of all shapes and sizes were lying there on the road, unmoving. Some of them had their doors wide open while others seemed slightly run down. But that was not the strange part. None of them had any occupants. There was not a single human being in sight.

Her lips slightly parted as she gawked at the scene in confusion. She leapt down from the horse's back and walked forward to the metal divider, tying it's reins up before climbing over the railing to the other lane.

Elsa could feel a shade of terror clawing at her as she walked around the area, wide eyes staring at all the vacant vehicles. Her breath grew quicker. This wasn't right. It was as if every single human on the planet had disappeared or something. She'd never felt more alone than she did at the what she could see in front of her, there were unending lines of abandoned vehicles lying in front of her, stretching into the horizon.

With quick pace, she hurried back to the horse and mounted it, whipping the reins , forcing it to gallop faster towards the city as a sense of uncertain dread began oozing it's way inside her. After what seemed like hours , the tall skyscrapers of Atlanta came into view and for a second, Elsa a feeling immediately sprung up inside her that gave her the feeling that something was wrong. Not just the vehicles had been abandoned but the trains on the other side seemed stationary as well. There was not a single noise to be heard apart from the sound of the horse's hooves striking against the road as it galloped.

As they neared the city, she yanked at the reins, slowing down the horse into a slow trot as she glanced around the area in dread. No police men at the checkpost. No people bustling around the checkpoint department stores despite the fact that they had the ' _open'_ sign visible on the door.

The situation and dread only got worse as they entered the city. It was as if time itself had stopped. Nothing moved, except for Elsa, the horse she was on and a few ravens that were flying around the area, low to the ground. The streets were empty and pieces of waste paper and debris were strewn around the area, billowing around randomly in the occasional breeze that came by.

As the wandered closer into the heart of the city, Elsa's gaze fell upon a quarantined zone in the middle of the square with a vacant helicopter lying there , unused. There was even an unmoving war tank that lay there, parked onto the sidewalk, precariously close to the wall of a building as if it'd been put there carelessly. But why were all these military vehicles here in the middle of the city?

As She gazed around in horror, the sight that welcomed her were the many cars and other automobiles laying in random positions, doors open and windshields smashed in(some of them at least). The unnerving silence began to bear down on her and she had already pinched herself thrice to make sure she wasn't still back in her crashed car, hallucinating. No. Something was definitely wrong. Even the horse seemed to have sensed it, since it was getting rather nervous and riled up, turning it's head in directions she hadn't made it to turn.

'It's alright boy... Calm down. We'll figure out what's going on..' Elsa mumbled, trying to calm down the horse. But she knew she was speaking empty words. She herself was probably a lot more scared than the horse was.

Wastebins lay upturned on the roads, spare tires, clothes and all sorts of other items lay strewn carelessly around them. It looked like a hurricane had hit the area and everyone had evacuated someplace else or something. And it didn't help that her phone charge was non-existent at the moment either.

As she moved in deeper into the concrete jungle, the sights only got worse. Vehicles were stacked up on each other. Some buildings had their doors and windows all boarded up and sealed off and it looked like it had been done in a hurry. Lampposts lay on the ground, it's bulb shattered onto the pavement. The traffic signals did anything but blink red, orange and green. Some of the vehicles even looked like it had scorch marks on it, as if it'd been set on fire. It was like they'd wandered into a ghost town or something.

She decided to head into one of the stores and find a powerbank to charge her phone first before continuing any further. Dismounting from the horse, she moved towards the derelict looking store , approaching it cautiously .

'Hello?Anybody here?', she called out.

No answer came. Heading inside, she ransacked the area but to her dismay, there was nothing worthwhile to take from there for use. It was as if the place had been raided. Almost anything and everything in there was gone, except for a bunch of useless toys and cracked television sets.

Just then, she heard the horse neighing frightfully and as she whipped around , she caught sight of it, backpedalling and galloping away.

' NO! PLEASE! NO! COME BACK!' she cried and bolted out the store, her heart hammering in her chest. She couldn't let the animal go. It was her only way out of here if something was wrong like what her gut was telling her.

She chased after the fleeing horse as it rounded a city block out of view. But immediately after it'd done so, the gut wrenching sound of the horse crying for it's life exploded in the air. Elsa slammed her heels and came to a sudden halt, almost toppling over forward due to the momentum. The bloodcurdling neighing of the horse continued echoing through the ghostly city. What happened?

Creeping towards the corner of the building, she poked her head out and her heart dropped and she had to clap a palm to her mouth to stop herself from screaming out in terror. There, almost fifteen feet in front of her,was almost a hundred, if not more , of things that looked identical to the creature that attacked Elsa back at the farm. Tears stung her eyes and she watched them tear into the helpless horse, gathering around the poor creature like a pack of hungry, animalistic wolves. A small squeak escaped her and her lungs froze for a second as she caught sight of two of the creatures slowly turning around in the direction of the new sound. A cold, unshakable feeling of fear washed over her as two creatures locked eyes with her.

Stumbling backwards, Elsa bolted away, her heart hammering into her chest. As she ran, she tripped over a traffic cone lying on the ground and felt herself falling forwards. Her brain was too numb with fear that she failed to react quickly and as a result , a sharp pain shot up her right arm as it collided hard into the pavement, breaking the fall.

Ignoring the pain, she whipped around to find not two, but at least fifteen of the creatures following her, their hungry moans filling the air . Struggling to find her feet , she sprinted through the streets as fast as her legs could carry her. As she rounded a corner, a scream of terror escaped her lips as she came face to face with another group of those creatures, at least fifty of them, all of them gazing straight at her. Realizing what stood in front of them, the creatures began growling menacingly and began dragging themselves towards her.

Stumbling backwards in fear, she began running in the opposite direction, willing herself t run as fast as she could. She did not know where she was running to but all she cared about was putting some distance between her and those things.

Then, all of a sudden, a yellow taxi cab came out of nowhere, screeching to a halt in front of was so sudden that she almost crashed into the vehicle. Everything was a blur and it was all happening so fast that she didn't even question the good fortune as the door swung open for her.

'GET IN!' she heard a male voice yell and she didn't need more persuasion as she threw herself into the seat next to the driver and slammed the door shut.

She caught sight of at least a hundred or more of those creature hurrying towards the car, deep hunger etched on their rotting, disfigured faces. She heard the sound of wheels screeching against the tar road and within seconds, they were off. She had no idea where they were going or who was driving but she didn't care. At least he wasn't trying to eat her alive.

The view outside was a blur as the vehicle sped through the empty streets, rounding a corner and slowing down into an alleyway before the driver slammed his heels into the brake.

'THIS WAY!', the male voice remarked hurriedly as they leapt out of the car.

He led her towards a fire escape ladder attached to some old building and she did not take notice of who she was with until the two of them were safely lying on the rooftop of the apartment, panting their lungs out.

He didn't seem to be much older than she was, in fact, he might even have been her own age. He wore a black baseball hat paired with a grey pullover and black jeans and had a satchel slung over his shoulder hapazardly. He bore the look of someone you'd want to talk to and want to get to know.

'Quite …. Quite a grand appearance …you made there.' He panted , rubbing his chest uneasily as he got back to his feet.

'The name's Tadashi. ' he grinned at her, holding out his hand.

'Elsa' she responded weakly, shaking his hand.

'Thanks for …back there.' she panted, struggling not to give in to her knees that yearned to buckle and lie back down on the floor.

'Your welcome. Now come on. It's not safe out here.'

Together, the two of them proceeded through the rooftop, as Tadashi tried making light conversation along the way.

'So why'd you come to the city? That's the last thing a rational person woulda done.' He remarked as he leapt over a nearby rooftop ledge and held out a hand to help her.

'I-I didn't know the place is overrun by those… things.' She responded as she leapt across into his arms.

'You're kidding?' he answered, cocking an eyebrow at her as if she'd lost her marbles.

'W-why d'you think I'd be kidding?' she responded, a little annoyed.

'So you're saying you didn't see those things anywhere? Didn't run into them until now?' he remarked as he walked forward , looking down to the streets nearly ten floors below to see an army of the satanic creatures making their way towards the alley where they'd parked the car.

'Um. N-no. I was-I did run into one of those things before. My driver. I woke up in my car crash and he was gone. And.. he tried to eat me. ' Elsa responded vaguely, leaving out the part of her accidentally shooting Kai in the head.

'Whoa.. You were in a car crash?' , Tadashi gasped.

' What are those things?' Elsa interrupted him, blurting out the question that was eating away at her mind. He was the first human being she'd run into since waking up from the car crash and she needed to know what the hell was happening around her.

For a few seconds, Tadashi didn't respond, as if he mulling the question over in his head.

"Uh.. to be honest.. I'm not so sure myself. ' he responded as he led them down a short metal ladder and headed towards a metallic trapdoor that he yanked outward . 'They just turned up outta nowhere . All I've seen is if you get bit by one of those things, you die and you come back as one of em. '

Elsa felt her chest tighten as she entered the trapdoor, climbing down a ladder as Tadashi followed her through, closing the door after him. Was this the case everywhere? Were all the cities overrun by those creatures ? She felt a knot in her stomach as she thought about Anna and everyone back home. Were they safe or were they—no. They were safe. They _had_ to be safe. First thing she'd do once she got some charge on her phone was to call her sister and make sure they were all safe. She tired not to think about the other scenario.

The two of them made their way down the abandoned building he led them towards a large, two way metallic door with the label ' _Transaction office_ ' written on top. Opening the door, he stood aside, letting Elsa in before shutting the door after them. Having done so, he finally let the bag on his shoulder down, throwing it onto the floor as if relieving himself of a burden.

"What the hell dude? You were gone nearly four goddamn hours we thought we'd lost ya!" a male voice chided and within seconds, Elsa was almost harshly knocked over as Tadashi found himself in a bone crunching hug. Elsa watched as Tadashi returned the hug, smiling sheepishly at her through the thick, matted shoulder length brown hair that belonged to the person tackling him.

'An' who's yer friend?' a second male voice, a lot more huskier and deeper , remarked and Elsa craned her neck to find a rifle pointed at her. 'She bit or summat?'

The owner of the rifle was a big, beefy man. He was twice Elsa's size in both width and height. His massive arms were the size of Elsa's whole torso and his thick, gnarly fingers were gripped tight around the rifle, ready to shoot her down. The fellow looked to be in his mid-to-late forties at least, for he had a worn down and mature appearance about him. His thick, matted flaming red beard fell to his chest, covering his non-existent neck and it was a matching set with the unruly hair that he hid inside the cap he wore . His small, squinty emerald eyes glared at Elsa , as if sizing up her threat as she stared down at the barrel inches away from her face.

'I-I'm—', Elsa began stammering in fright but was saved as Tadashi jumped in front of her, putting himself in between her and the redneck.

'Mister Haddock, No! She—she's fine! She's not bit!', he exclaimed in a shocked tone.

For a few seconds, did not budge, pursing his lips as he continued to glare at her. The tension hung precariously in the air, like a bullet loaded in the clip, ready to fire.

'Dad.' The girl standing behind the beefy man remarked quietly.

Then, the man, Mister Haddock,let out a sigh of relief, his shoulders relaxed .

He shifted his gaze from Tadashi towards Elsa, giving her a stern, detestful gaze before heading towards the satchel Tadashi had been carrying around.

'Sorry 'bout my dad. I know he can be a real tough bite tuh swallow. The name's Heather.' The girl who Elsa understood to be Mister Haddock's daughter, remarked, approaching her.

She was about the same height as Elsa and of relatively similar build. Her jet black hair was in stark contrast to that of her father's flaming red and if she didn't know any better, Elsa would've never guessed the girl to be related to the man. The only real similarity she bore with her father was the bright green eyes.

'Elsa. Nice to meet you.' She responded, returning the smile .

'Didn't think I'd meet someone new with all the shit goin on outside.', A male voice remarked .

The young man who'd tackled Tadashi into a bear hug approached the two girls. He was a few inches taller than Elsa and had a very free-spirited air about him. His matted hair fell untidily onto his face and stuck up in all directions , like someone who hadn't run a comb through it recently . Elsa hazarded a guess that he was probably Mister Haddock's son, for he too had the bright green eyes . But , similar to Heather, everything about him from his brown hair to his smaller stature and freckled face was in stark contrast to his father.

'Unique name—Elsa. I'm Harry. ' , fellow responded with a grin as Elsa nodded.

'But apparently everybody here calls him _Hiccup_.', the third male in the room spoke up, walking over with a grin plastered on his face. His orange hair was barely visible, poking out of the beanie he wore on his head. His clothes mostly looked oversized and didn't seem to fit him correctly and the fellow had an overall lazed back aura of someone who came off as a slacker.

'That's Fred. Try not to get too close with him. He says he hasn't changed his underwear in over two months. ', Tadashi chuckled .

'I wear it front, then I wear it back. It's called recycling. Look it up!' Fred chided hotly, defending himself.

'An you've already met my dad.' Hiccup remarked, nodding towards who was inspecting the items within Tadashi's satchel with his brows furrowed in deep thought.

'Gone for hours an' I thought yeh woulda brought a lot more than this, boy.', Mister Haddock responded irritably as he placed bottles containing capsules and a few bakery items.

'I looked round five blocks. Most of the department stores are almost empty or infested with those things. Somebody got to the stock before I did. That's… that's all I managed to get .' Tadashi answered bleakly as he removed his hat and rubbed the beads of sweat collected on his head.

'Shit… Goddamit!' Mister Haddock cursed , punching the table so hard that Elsa momentarily thought it might give way.

'Come on dad. Let's try the east wing of the city block. Gotta be more food there.' Hiccup spoke up, walking towards his father who looked like a mountain when compared to his son.

'So how'd ya find her?' , Heather perked up, her gaze directed at Tadashi.

'I was tryin to figure a way back to you guys when I noticed a dozen of those things walk right past the store I was in. Then I heard a horse crying and I could tell it was probably nearby. Long story short, I found a blonde being chased by at least a hundred of those creatures. '.

'By the way, Fred,' Tadashi remarked, turning to the fellow, 'I found ya these. .'

He threw him a packet of some item Elsa did not recognize and the two of them walked away , leaving the two girls alone.

'While those two talk it out, wanna help me unpack ?We haven't eaten in over a day. Could use some food.' Heather whispered with a smile.

'Um.. Yeah. …' Elsa nodded as Heather handed her Tadashi's satchel to hold while she began picking out the food items. But the moment Elsa held the bag in her hands, she let out an involuntary gasp as pain shot through her arm.

'You alright there?', Heather inquired in a concerned tone as Elsa dropped the bag to the floor and held her wrist gingerly.

'Uh… I.. I think I might've twisted my hand or something. Fell over when I was running away from those things.',Elsa responded , clenching her teeth as the pain lingered.

'Let me take a look at it. Maybe I could help.', Tadashi responded as he walked over to the two of them.

As he held out a hand, Elsa hesitated, looking down at her wrist.

'S'okay. He minored in medicine. He's as good a doctor as any we've got.' Heather remarked encouragingly.

Tadashi took her hand and tenderly rolled back the sleeve of her denim jacket.

'Ouch…', Heather mumbled as her wrist came into view.

It had turned a little pinkish in color and had swollen a few centimeters. Tadashi squinted his eyes as he examined the injury , lightly rubbing his index finger over it .

' Just a little muscle tension .You probably exerted too much weight over the thing , causing the tendons to rupture.' He responded after a few seconds.

'Speak English, doc?', Heather smirked at him .

'Nothing too serious. It'll heal on it's own. Just take a few painkillers and I'll put some crepe tape on. Might cause some irritation. ',Tadashi responded with a smile.

'Bad news…' Hiccup sighed as he walked to the group. 'The supplies tha' dashi managed to grab us can probably only keep us goin for a day at most with all the people we got and the only area we're yet to check out is BTS avenue—and tha's nearly ten blocks out.'

Just then, the muffled sound of a gun shot crackled through air in the room, followed by two more and then again. It kept on coming.

'Shit…', Heather cursed, glaring upwards at the ceiling .

'Fuckin asshole.', Hiccup cursed as he bolted out of the room, grabbing a baseball bat lying on the table.

The group hurried up the way Tadashi and Elsa came, bolting back up the dingy fire exit and clambered out of the trapdoor out onto the rooftop . Heather and Elsa were the last to pull themselves out as Hiccup charged towards a new fellow who stood on the ledge of the rooftop, a shotgun in his hand. He managed to take one more shot down onto the streets before Hiccup yanked him backwards and pulled the gun out of his hands, throwing it aside.

Elsa thought Hiccup to be quite courageous, since the fellow he was crossing was no geek. He stood at a towering six foot or more, easily challenging in the size department. His big, hulking physique made anyone look like a midget next to him. He had a gruff, arrogant demeanor about him but the most distinct feature about him was not his long, unruly flaming red hair nor his uncouth appearance. It was the eyepatch over his right eye and looking at him made Elsa feel rather uneasy, to say the least.

'What the hell are ya doin, ya big turd!? They're attracted to sound!' Hiccup roared at the behemoth in front of him . And as an answer, he received a solid right hook across his face, being lifted off his feet and being thrown backwards.

'Don't you take tha' tone with me, punk! I wuz havin me a good target practice until your whiny lil ass decided to show up!', the fellow chided as Hiccup lay on the ground. He continued to kick out at Hiccup, forcing the fellow to grunt in pain with each kick as everyone else pleaded with him to stop.

'Patchy stop! Please!', the others cried as the fellow, whom Elsa now knew to be 'Patchy', go ontop of Hiccup and whipped out a short barreled pistol, pointing it straight at his face.

'Please!Stop hurting him!', Heather pleaded as Fred held her back.

Patchy didn't budge, instead glaring down at hiccup, both of their chests heaving . A tense silence hung in the air, only broken by the sound of Heather's pleading whispers. Everyone was too scared to move, afraid that the lunatic might release the bullet if they budged. Then, Patchy clenched his teeth and spat onto Hiccup's chest, rubbing it all over his shirt.

'Yer lucky yeh've got a pretty lil dessert for a sister,yeh prick. I think I'll have me a few scoops of her goodies after—' Patchy was saying but Elsa, thankfully, did not get to hear what he intended to do with Heather as a giant hand came from behind him and within seconds, Patchy was on the ground ,his massive foot on top of his chest and a rifle inches away from his face.

'Talk bout me daughter like tha again, Stabbington.I dare yeh. There's us an' then there's those things. You continue with this charade an' you'll be out on the streets by yerself. Do I make meself clear, asshole?', Mister Haddock growled, his finger twitching on the release catch of his rifle.

'Screw you, old man…', Patchy hissed at Mister Haddock , only to have the far stronger man exert more force onto his chest, making him cough weakly from the pain.

' _Do I make meself clear_ ', Mister. Haddock growled through clenched teeth.

'Ngh… Yessir..' , Patchy grunted under the strain.

Then, as if just for personal satisfaction, Mister Haddock landed a solid kick across Patchy Stabbington's face, sending him tumbling sideways, howling in pain.

'You alright, son?', Mister Haddock remarked, as he stumped towards Hiccup, who had a disdainful expression on his face.

'I had it, dad. I didn't need your help.', Hiccup hissed, much to everyone's surprise and he stormed off,holding his ribs.

'Well ..Um.. that … happened..', Tadashi remarked awkwardly as Fred went and handcuffed Patchy's hands together to prevent him from doing any more damage.

But Elsa's attention was someplace else. After all the shouting and struggling had finished, she'd noticed a dull, murmur noise that came from down the streets. Tadashi and Heather glanced at each other apprehensively as she neared the edge of the rooftop ledge.

As she gazed downwards, her eyes widened in shock as the view became clearer and more apparent. Elsa's heart dropped as she took in the view below them. The streets down below were flooded with an ocean of those satanic creatures. Their dreaded, sickening moans stung the very air . There were too many to count, stretching out far into the horizon. There was not a single area free of the creature that they could use to escape at this point.

'Oh god….' Elsa whispered , her eyes darting around in horror as the feeling of hopelessness that had subsided momentarily began rising in her again, clawing at her insides like a repulsive, unquenchable parasite.

She had no idea there was so many of them. There was no way out .

* * *

 **Well, there's chapter one, folks! And by now, you've probably realized that this is a zombie apocalypse story, lol. I know some elements of this chapter is similar to the beginning of the walking dead tv show. But I promise you, that's just for this episode, to get the story going.** ** **And yeah, I will be making some changes to the characters in the story. For example, I decided to make Heather and Hiccup actual siblings, not just a stupid cop out like the tv show did.** I hope you found this chapter enjoyable to read !  
**

 **Please leave any constructive criticism and fav/follow this story if you enjoyed what you read so far!**

 **And thank you for checking out my story!**


	2. Chapter 2 - Infestation

**I do not own these characters**

 **Chapter Two - Infestation**

* * *

The day was Thursday. She had been unconscious for three whole days. And in those three days, the whole world around her and what she knew had changed . Nothing would be the same . She knew that much. In fact, she was having a hard time coming to terms with what all she'd been filled in on. It all felt like a bad nightmare and she did not want it to be real. But she knew the cold, hard truth. Her mind traveled back in time to days she'd spent with her sister and mother while their father was away for work. It almost felt surreal to think about it after seeing what the world outside was turning into.

'Are you okay?', Tadashi's voice brought her out of her bubble of thoughts.

'Just trying not to think about the pain.', Elsa lied , glancing down at her hand as he wrapped crepe tape around her injured wrist.

'Not gonna lie. This might sting a bit..', he mumbled as he rolled a balm over her hand before locking the tap in place with a hand pin.

'Thanks.', Elsa flinched, jerking her body as the burning sensation slowly crept along her arm.

It had been nearly half an hour since the little event up on the rooftop and Patchy Stabbington sat at the table, his hands till cuffed together with a scornful glare in his 'd found a bottle of whisky on the floor next to where he was standing , firing the gunshots-he'd been drunk. The moment his gaze shifted in her direction, she quickly looked away, too terrified of what he'd do.

'Don't mind him.', Tadashi remarked, having noticed.

'He's…not the most ideal guy you wanna have around. But—considering what we're dealing with now, we could use someone who's good with a gun.', he sighed as he sat next to her.

'So … he's a game hunter?', Elsa inquired , glancing at Stabbington who was glaring at his cuffs.

'Uh….not exactly.', Tadashi chuckled. ' Well—we're not really sure why but we found him in one of the APD cars keeping away those creatures trying to eat him with the officer's shotgun,while all chained up. So I'd say he's handy with a gun.'

Great. So she not only had to be wary of those satanic creatures outside but also had to keep an eye on a possible criminal . She half began to wish that she'd never woken up from the car crash. At least she wouldn't have had to wake up to—whatever was going on around her now.

Mister Haddock and Heather were standing at one corner of the room, talking quietly among themselves about something while Stabbington sat on the floor, darting his gaze around the room like a caged animal ready to pounce. Hiccup and Fred had gone out to try and find a way out of the building without attracting the attention of the creatures outside.

'So how'd you all meet up?', Elsa asked quietly, trying to keep her mind busy.

'Uh..Well. You already know Patchy. And we just met Fred a day before we found you.', Tadashi mumbled, rubbing his chin in thought.

'But I knew the Haddocks long before …y'know.. all _this_ happened.', sighed, taking his hat off and rubbing his sweat hair out of his eyes.

'Hiccup and Heather stayed with their mom up in Sanfran. We… actually went to the same school together.', Tadashi said quietly, making sure he was not heard by the Haddocks who stood in the corner.

'Really?', Elsa remarked in a surprised tone.

'Yeah. He stayed like—four blocks down from my place. Needed my help in homework from time to time.', Tadashi chuckled.. 'Their dad wasn't around that much though. Their parents split up with Hiccup was eight, from what he's told me. He stayed back South while the kids and the mom moved.'

'Um.. So—where is she then?', Elsa wondered out loud. Tadashi did not speak but his face already gave away what had happened to the poor lady.

'She got attacked when all this began. Luckily was in town, visiting his children. He…he had to put her down after she'd turned into one of those things.'.

A horrified feeling gripped Elsa and she glanced at Heather and her father. She'd never have thought that they'd gone through such a thing . No wonder was so hostile to her when Tadashi had brought her in. He probably did not want what happened to to his ex-wife to happen to his kids too.

Then, a dark, horrifying thought washed over Elsa . What if the same thing had happened to her family? What if someone close to Anna had been bit ? What if Anna was attacked?

'I've got my little brother and Aunt up in Sanfran. They're holed up with another group—we managed to make contact before the phone lines went dead. We're heading back over there before all this gets any worse. ', Tadashi remarked before he turned to her.'What about you? '

She was spared from having to talk about her fears of Anna being attacked as the entry doors to the room burst open and a panting Hiccup and Fred hurried into the room with downtrodden expressions .

'We—we … tried to. There was this—and a girl—and gun—oh god—',Fred coughed , trying to catch his breath.

'We tried finding a way out but the whole goddamn street is full of those things!', Hiccup panted.

'We.. ran into a girl outside. She said she's been hidin down at the store down the street. We trad tuh help her and asked her tuh join us but she—she took Fred's gun when we weren't looking and… just shot herself …in the head. '

Elsa's stomach churned as she took in what they said. Looking around the room, everyone else seemed to have a horrified expression, even Stabbington, to her surprise, who seemed disturbed.

'The sound of the shot… it drew in all the creatures that heard Patchy's gunshots. They're.. right outside the building.',Fred completed as he gulped down some water from his flask.

'Goddammit!',Mister Haddock roared, punching hard into the wall next to him. As he walked away, there was a fist sized hole through which Elsa could peek into the neighboring room.

'How many?', he continued, once he'd calmed down.

'Ya might wanna see this yourself, sir.', Fred muttered despondently .

Seething in rage, the fifty year old man stomped past the others and vanished out of the door. Soon,all the others followed him through, making their way down the many floors of spiraling stair to the ground floor.

The office building was built in such a way that the rooms and corridors of the building encircled around the hollowed out center of the building. If you stood near the safety railing of the corridor, you could gaze down to view what was happening on the ground floor.

She'd only made it out to the first floor when the sound of the familiar, sickening moans filled her ears. Her breath began to shiver as she followed the others who were all gathered in the corridor, around the safety railing. The moment she edged forward and had a clear enough view of what the others were all staring at, she wished she had listened to her brain and stayed behind in the room.

The ground floor below was teeming with dozens of creatures similar to the ones Elsa had seen before. Their pungent, rotting scent filled the air, repulsing those who stood behind the railing, hidden from sight, watching them from above. More and more crawled in through the glass entry doors that lay shattered to pieces on the floor.

'Holy fuck!', Stabbington hissed in horror. 'Tha hell are we gon' do?!'

Haddock signaled for the group to head back upstairs . As they crept away, Hiccup , who'd be walking behind Patchy Stabbington, involuntarily bumped into the fellow, resulting in him turning around and shoving him hard, sending him tumbling into the glass cabinet behind him. Luckily the glass did not break but the sound of the collision echoed through the halls. Mister Haddock growled and grabbed a handful of Stabbington's hair, holding the barrel of his rifle close to his chin threateningly.

'Guys! Keep quiet!', Tadashi hissed hurriedly.

They watched as he slowly edged towards the corridor . Elsa's heart was hammering against her chest as they watched him.

Then, to their relief,they saw his shoulders relaxing .

'We're clear.', he sighed as he rejoined them.

'Make one more goddamn mistake and I'll stick this bullet up yer pie hole,yeh understand?', Mister Haddock growled at Stabbington before letting go of his hair.

The group made their way back up to the room and boarded themselves in, just to be cautious.

'Now how y'all goin tuh get past those things oussaide?', Stabbington chuckled deviously as he eyed everyone nervously pacing the room.

Hiccup glared at him for a second , as if mulling something over in his head.

'We could always use him as bait .' , he finally proposed.

'Hell naw !', Stabbington growled and made to get up, only to slide back down to his chair after catching 's eye.

'We've gotta work together. Fighting amongst ourselves isn't gonna help us. ', Tadashi said as he helped Heather pack all the remaining supplies into her backpack.

'An' who the fuck made yeh the sheriff of this town,eh?', Stabbington hissed mockingly .

Tadashi took in a deep breath and ignored his taunt. Elsa decided to help him and Heather pack the bags so that they were ready to make a quick getaway—assuming that it was possible.

'What about the sewer entrance in the alleyway outside? It's near the back section of the building .', Fred suggested.

'Are yeh friggin crazy, boy? You want us the strut out straight into a street full'o those damn monsters?', Mister Haddock roared.

'No dad. He's right . We've gone out through that alley before. For food supplies. Someone had blocked the alley from the main street with a dumpster.', Hiccup interrupted his father with a determined voice. 'It might be our only way out.'.

Mister Haddock glanced around the room , as if looking for anyone to back him up.

'It's… worth a shot.', Tadashi piped up.

As a last resort, glanced down at the handcuffed fellow in front of him.

'Don' look at me, old man.', Stabbington snorted indignantly .

Defeated,Mister Haddock let out a despondent sigh and pursed his lips.

' Fine. But we all stick tehgether.', he grunted, shoving Stabbington back onto his feet. 'Anything goes wrong, we can act fast then.'

The others nodded .

Elsa continued helping Heather finish up packing the bags while the boys headed out to try and find some item they could use to kill the monstrous creatures without drawing up too much sound.

It didn't take long for them to return and they didn't carry much of anything new with them except for one or two hatchets that Elsa guessed they would've taken from the emergency handed one to heather, who seemed to revel in being given the weapon and then held out the other one to Elsa, who merely gazed at it, wide eyed, as if it were a bomb that would go off if she touched it.

'It won't bite ya.', he remarked, noticing her hesitation.

'I've… never used one of these things.', she muttered quietly.

'And I've never used a gun on humans before, but everything's got a time a place. You need to be able to defend yourself if they catch you.',Hiccup responded .

Elsa glanced at Heather, who gave her an encouraging smile. Taking a deep breath, Elsa reached out and wrapped her fingers around the cold metal handle . The moment Hiccup let go of his hold on the hatchet, Elsa almost dropped it to the floor. Not because it was that heavy or anything. It had more to do with the fact that she wasn't even holding it properly.

'You… want some help with that?', Heather offered as she noticed Elsa struggling with the hatchet.

'Yeah. Thanks.. I just..hope I don't actually have to use it .', Elsa replied weakly.

'Alright people. We're headin out! Stick together and don't make no unnecessary noises unless yeh want those things to chew yeh up!', Mister Haddock barked at them group as he placed his hand on the door knob.

With a final nod, he swung the door open, his gun pointed out in front of him, ready to take the shot. Fortunately, he did not need to use it. The entire hallway in front of them was vacant and there was no sound of any moaning in the vicinity. Gripping the handle of the hatchet a little tighter, Elsa followed the group out, with and Hiccup leading the way and Fred bringing the rear.

They hurried to the end of the long hallway, making sure their footsteps were not easily detectable. Once they neared the corner, Hiccup, poked his head out and then retracted it back in, his breath quickening.

'Two of em.', he whispered to his father who furrowed his brows, thinking hard.

'We have no other choice. We need teh keep moving.', Mister Haddock muttered. He turned to Elsa and Heather, grabbed the hatchets from their grip and handed them over to his son and Fred. 'Cut their bleedin heads be quiet 'bout it.'

The others stood as silently as they could , even going so far as holding in their breath as Hiccup and Fred crept out around the corner . A few seconds later, the dull sound of metal hitting meat filled the air. The sound came again. And once more.

'Clear.', Fred's voice called out and the group moved round the corner. Elsa almost threw up on the spot.

There in front of them lay the two decapitated bodies of the rotting creatures, their bodies unmoving while their heads, severed from their torso, still moaned and snapped as they saw the humans walking towards them. A thick, blackish liquid stained the white flooring and it continued to ooze out of their necks, where their heads used to be.

'That's just gross…', Elsa heard Heather whisper, pinching her nose as Hiccup and Fred returned the now bloodstained hatchets to gave Elsa a knowing glance as she caught her eyeing the hatchet repulsively.

'Let's get a move on before more of em turn up.', Mister Haddock grumbled hurriedly.

The group hurried through the rest of the corridor and made their way towards the fire exit door. They all hurried down the dingy staircase, most of them almost leaping three steps in a go until they all came to a halt when they neared the ominous exit door that opened out onto the ground floor of the and cautiously, Hiccup placed his hand on the door lever and pushed it downward. Taking a low breath, he slowly edged the door inwards and gazed out into the corridor outside through the small gap. As they watched, he shook his head, signaling that the view was clear and pulled the door open wider and poked his head out to make sure.

'Clear.', he muttered hastily and bolted forward .

The others followed him through and as Elsa brought the rear of the group, she almost squealed in fright as her eyes caught sight of the satanic creatures passively shuffling along on the far end of the corridor, behind the glass walls. While she had seen what the city outside had become, her brain still had a hard time coping with the sight of those things walking around in hordes. Clapping a hand to her mouth to stop herself, she hurried after the group, with Fred leading the way.

Fred led the group away from the main corridors where the creatures were shuffling around and into cramped stairway that led downwards from the ground floor . He led them into what looked to be the underground electrical storage unit of the building. The systems had all stopped whirring and there was not a single sign that an electrical current had passed through the mechanisms in the near hours. They could hear the muffled moans and groans of the satanic creatures moving around outside on the streets through the slim, rectangular windows of the room that offered them a view of the ground level outside.

'I ain't headin down there.', Stabbington grumbled as Fred, Hiccup and Tadashi opened the circular hatch on the ground. A strong, repulsive stink shot into the room, nauseating everyone present. Elsa pressed her palm to her face to try and stave off the repulsive scent.

'Ya got a better idea, smartass?', Hiccup growled .

'Is it safe?', Heather asked with her face hidden into her arm.

'No chances of us running into those things are lesser.', Fred answered with a shrug.

For a few silent seconds, the group stared down the black hole , no one daring to volunteer to head down there .

'You go first.', Hiccup remarked, his gaze fixed on Stabbington.

'You gotta be yankin my leg…', he mumbled as his face fell in shock.

'Yer the ass who fired off those bloody gunshots an' drew em here in the firs place, so it's only fair.', Mister Haddock answered as he walked over to Heather and opened up the backpack. Rummaging inside, he withdrew a flashlight and placed it in Stabbington's cuffed hands.

'Tha' hell am I s'pposed to do with this? Throw it at those damn things?', he chided .

'Get down there and signal to us when it's safe. I don't trust giving you a gun yet. You might turn on us and fire.', Hiccup remarked sternly.

As Stabbington stared around , hoping to find someone to side with him, they all took a step back, leaving him space to crawl down the ladder into the dark abyss. Mumbling curses fluently under his breath, the red head edged forward , scrunched his face in disgust under the strong smell before taking a deep breath and placing his foot on the ladder. The group watched as he crawled down the ladder with the flashlight in between his teeth. Soon, he vanished from sight , swallowed up by the darkness.

They waited and waited. But there was no sign of Stabbington.

'D'you think he took off?', Elsa whispered to Heather as the two girls stood close together, eyeing the black circle in the ground warily.

'Not likely. He's got nothin to defend himself with. Unless, as he said, he plans on throwing the flashlight at those things.', Heather replied .

Then, after a few seconds, a beam of bright light came out of the dark hole, blinking twice .

'Come on then.', Hiccup muttered and moved forward, crawling down the ladder and disappearing from sight. The rest of them followed through. Elsa waited for Heather to vanish from view and then pursed her lips, trying to ignore the pungent scent as she made her way down the ladder. Tadashi was the last of them to make his way down the hole.

'Fuckin 'ell.', Elsa heard Stabbington's coarse voice grunt through the darkness.

'Keep close.', Hiccup called out as Stabbington led the way, flashing the light out in front of him.

The suffocating darkness pressed down on them, not making it any easier to ignore the putrid stench wafting around them. The sound of droplets of water falling from the mossy ceiling down into the water below echoed through the tunnel. With each step through the disgusting water, Elsa felt the urge to throw up. She'd never been in such a situation before and was not doing a very good job of coping with it either. She found herself almost tripping over and falling into the disgusting waters thrice. Given the choice,this was not even on the list of things she'd wanted to do.

For long seconds that stretched into minutes, no one spoke and the only noise around them was the sound of their ragged breathing and their feet shuffling along in the ankle high waters .

'Not the most ideal place in the world for a chat, is it?', Elsa heard Tadashi say as he walked next to Heather.

'I'd rather not speak right now.', Heather coughed as they moved along. Elsa glanced behind her as they walked. Great. She was now the one bringing the rear. And she didn't like that.

'What about you?', Tadashi remarked , catching her attention.

'What?', Elsa replied.

'How're you holding up with everything that's goin on?'

'I dunno. I—' , Elsa began saying but she was cut off mid-sentence as she heard the familiar moan behind her and before she knew what was happening, she felt something scaly and boney to the touch wrap itself around her ankle.

'AAARGH!', Elsa screamed out in fright and turned around to find one of the creatures dragging it's body after her, barely two feet away, growling hungrily . Her mind was numb with fear and before she knew it, the thing stopped moving, Elsa's hatchet embedded deep into the crown of it's head. As it's grip slackened on her, Elsa backpedaled away from the creature , her chest heaving from the sudden fright.

She stared around at the others in the darkness and they all bore similar expressions of shock on their faces as they stared at her. Hiccup(who seemed a little shaken) made his way over to her and yanked the hatchet out from the creature's head, handing it over to Elsa .

'Are you alright?', he said, his gaze transfixed on the deep gash on the creature's head.

Unable to form words just yet, Elsa nodded her head hurriedly, almost shaking as she tried to calm herself.

'Stay close. We don' want ourselves another such encounter.', Mister Haddock panted with his eyes fixed on Elsa and the hatchet , as if surprised she'd actually used it properly. In fact, Elsa herself was feeling much the same way.

Tadashi and Heather approached her as Hiccup walked away back to the front of the group. They all looked down at the creature that attacked Elsa. It's skin was scaly looking, with parts of flesh peeling off and it's lower body was missing. From the looks of it, it looked like it had been ripped off the thing's body. Despite how repulsive it looked, Elsa couldn't shake the feeling that she'd just swung an axe straight into the head of the thing, which she knew had been a human woman like she was once.

'Come on.', Tadashi mumbled but she could tell he too was shaken from the encounter.

'Let's hope you don't have to do that again.', he added, as if he'd read her mind.

For the next half an hour, the group trudged along in the darkness, the single beam of white light emanating from Stabbington's grasp their only source of guidance in the humid , mossy tunnel. After what seemed like hours, they came to sudden halt after the flashlight shone onto what looked like a metal ladder that lead upwards vertically. Stabbington followed the ladder and pointed the flashlight up onto the ceiling, where a circular manhole opening came into view, along with the rats the scuttled along the surface.

'I'll go check if it's clear.', Hiccup mumbled ,signaling to Heather to hand over her hatchet .

'No. It's not safe.', Mister Haddock shook his head, only to have his son glare at him.

'Dad. I don't need your permission . And why do you care so much all of a sudden?', he retorted irritably.

'You watch yer-', Mister Haddock growled before backing off as Heather placed her hand on his arm.

The group watched as he began climbing up the slippery ladder until he was close to the manhole opening, nearly ten feet above them. He lifted the heavy iron cover and slid it aside as quietly as he could. The group watched with bated breath, staying as silent as they could as he poked his head out . Hiccup crawled out of the manhole and disappeared from view for a few seconds .As the group began to grow anxious , his head appeared back above the circle of white light above them and he beckoned them to come up.

One by one, the group crawled up the ladder and out through the circular manhole. As Elsa followed Tadashi through, the blinding light of the setting sun forced her to squint her eyes .As her eyes readjusted, she noticed the fact that they were standing in the inner compound area of an abandoned two storeyed motel. The parking lot around them, adjacent to the ground floor rooms were all empty and the flimsy front gates were closed shut from the outside, with it's padlock visible in the orange glass panes could be seen shattered, with it's shard strewn across the pavement. Stains of blood could be visible along the gravel, and it looked as if bodies were dragged along the ground. Elsa had an inkling that the blood belonged to the creatures that infested the city. Thankfully, there did not seem to be any sign of those things around, except for the two that lay on the ground, their headless bodies lying motionless on the ground and their heads missing.

'We could stay here for the night until we decide what to do next.', Hiccup remarked to his father as Fred closed the manhole cover shut after he'd climbed out.

'Not very secure..But at least no sign of those things.', Heather panted, shielding her eyes from the setting sun and glancing at the fencing that surrounded the compound.

'Hey guys. I was thinking. Since we're gonna prolly be runnin into those creatures every now and then, we should come up with a name for know those things are like undead beings. And they smell like a rotten corpse. So I was thinking— _rotters_ maybe? ', Fred remarked with a serious face .

For a few seconds, nobody answered, simply staring at him silently, as if wondering what else was going to pour out of his lips.

'What?', Fred muttered, looking around at the group.

'We are not givin those things names,boy.',Mister Haddock snorted as he stomped away .

'I mean—come on! We can't just keep calling em—" _those things"_! It doesn't seem cool at all! Besides, it's what I las' heard the new channels calling em! ', Fred whined as he followed and Hiccup as they headed towards the reception office of the motel to make sure that they were truly clear of ' _rotters_ '.

'You're a natural with that thing.', Heather remarked , gazing at Elsa and then at the hatchet in her hand.

' Believe me, It took me two whole months to even know how to swing an axe properly. Dad's not exactly the best teacher ya could ask for. Bad temper, ya know.', Heather chuckled, trying to ease the situation.

'Come on. Let's go take a look around. Wouldn't wanna leave all the fun to the boys now would we?', she added and the two of them moved away from the compound, heading towards where the toilets were located, just a few rooms away from the entrance gates.

Together, Elsa and Heather made their way around the abandoned lot, circling back to the rear area of the motel and thankfully, had only run into two rotters, both of them trapped inside one of the rooms. Heather proceeded to mark the door with the blackish blood that dripped from Elsa's hatchet, courtesy of the legless rotter they'd run into down in the sewers. The skies were almost inky black now and yet, no one had bothered to turn on the lights in the building.

'Is there…a power outage or something?', Elsa mumbled, looking around with the flashlight in her hand.

'The… electricity lines went dead nearly a day ago. No phones, no computers. It's back to the stone ages. ', Heather chuckled weakly. 'Besides, rotters are attracted to light—not just the sound. So we can never been too sure.'

'Right .',Elsa nodded, feeling a little stupid. Of course, among the many things she'd missed out on while sleeping inside a crashed car for nearly three days, this just added to the list. She had a feeling she had to be the biggest liability to the group at the moment, since she was the most ill prepared .

'So where ya from? I can tell ya ain't from round here from the accent.', Heather remarked, trying to make small talk as they began walking back to the central compound.

' My dad's Norwegian but my mom's from Michigan. I grew up in Oslo.', Elsa answered as she kicked a rotter body lying nearby, just to make sure it wasn't moving.

'Cool. Well, for the record, both ma parents are from Louisiana. But me an' my brother grew up in Sanfransisco .', Heather remarked with a smile. Elsa had heard from Tadashi about Hiccup and Heather's story but decided not to press it with the girl. She'd rather be on a friendly page with what looked to be the only _human_ human beings she'd met since waking up.

'Anything new?', Hiccup remarked as the two girls rejoined the rest of the group.

'Just two rotters in room number fourty-three. I marked the door so that you're not stupid enough to go stomping in.', Heather replied with a snort.

'So we're really gonna start callin em that?', Hiccup chuckled .

Heather simply grinned at her brother and walked away towards Tadashi and Fred, who were checking the rooms on the first floor for any rotters.

'So how ya holdin' up? We should've been more careful with ya. Ya know, since this is all more new to you than tuh us.', Hiccup remarked , moving his hair out of his eyes.

'Well..I'm still alive.', Elsa replied with a small smile, trying not to let him now just how lost she was feeling at the moment.

'Don't worry. We're all … still new to all this. In fact, you're better off than we were when the outbreak started. You got a heck of a swinging arm. ', he chuckled , eyeing her hatchet as his father came stomping over.

'We stay here and rest fer the night. Get some sleep.', Mister Haddock grumbled, looking between them.

'Great. I wuz thinking me, Tadashi and Elsa go on a run to the trading outpost a few minutes down the road to look for supplies in the morn. ', Hiccup nodded.

'Me!? W-why me?', Elsa blurted out, her eyes almost popping out of her sockets at the sheer thought of being out in the open with the rotters again.

'Relax. You're not goin alone. Besides, I need Fred to keep watch while we're gone. Dad's the only one who's got a leash on Patchy and whatever she might've told ya, my sis ain't really all that good with a gun nor an axe.', Hiccup smiled at her.

'I-I'm not good with them either!', Elsa stammered, trying her best to point out the fact she had no intention to be out in the open so soon.

'Nonsense!',Mister Haddock boomed,' Ah seen yeh with that axe. Not easy takin out one o' those things in the dark like yeh did. Yeh've got a knack fer it, kid.'.

'So it's settled.', Hiccup nodded, turning to her. 'Get some sleep. We go out early.'

And just like that, Elsa was to head out on an expedition where she had no opportunity to voice her opinion.

'Hey! You comin or what?', Elsa heard Heather call out and the two girls headed up the staircase through the reception , deciding to pick the first open door they laid eyes on.

The entire room was dark so they couldn't exactly see everything around them but they could see the two twin beds with their blankets laying disheveled on the mattress. There was a mirror sitting on a cupboard who's drawers lay wide open. A bedside table sat between the two beds with a telephone set who's receiver lay on the ground, still attached to it's set by the coil. It didn't look like much and this was the first time Elsa had ever stayed at such a low budget motel but at least, given the circumstances, it wasn't dirty .

'I'll take that one.', Heather said immediately pointing to the bed furthest away from the door and headed over to place her bag on the bed, as if to claim the spot to be her's eternally.

Elsa walked over to the remaining bed and sat down, leaning her hatchet to wall next to her bed so that she could grab it easily should the need would've placed her bag next to her but it was lost, still hung onto the horse's saddle . It probably lay there, forgotten on the streets of Atlanta, amidst a hundred, maybe thousand rotters.

'You can take someoma clothes if ya want.', Elsa heard Heather's voice, as if the latter had read her mind or something.

'Thanks.', Elsa replied, giving her a small smile.

As Heather handed over a pair of skinny jeans and a sleeveless top, there was a knock on their door(even though it was open) and they turned to see Tadashi standing in the doorway , holding two lamps that gave off an orangish glow.

'Found these in one of the closets in the cargo room. Change up quick and come down. wants use to eat and turn in as early as possible. ', he remarked as he handed Heather one of the lamps.

Tadashi left as the girls nodded.

Heather placed the lamp on the bedside table between the two of them and they began undressing. Surprisingly, Heather's clothes fit Elsa almost perfectly, with only the jeans being a little shorter than she would've liked.

'Sorry. Got short legs, thanks to ma mom.', Heather chuckled weakly as she noticed Elsa looking down at the jeans in the mirror.

Together, the two of them made their way back downstairs and headed to the reception area where all the others were already present, with Hiccup,Fred and Tadashi moving the reception desk to the side so that they'd have more space to sit on the floor and begin eating. Mister Haddock was outside, having what looked to be a stern conversation with Stabbington, whose cuffs were now off of his wrists.

Soon, the group were seated on the dusty floor, with a lantern placed in the center as a substitution for a campfire, with everyone munching away at the food supplies that were left in Heather's backpack. Despite having wolfed down practically the entire refrigerator back at the old ranch house, Elsa did feel a little hungry—although it probably had to do with the fact that she basically threw up most of what she ate after she'd shot the bullet through the rotter that used to be Kai. Poor Kai. He must've been attacked by one of the rotters after the car crash, since Elsa distinctly remembered a chunk of his neck that was missing. Then, out of nowhere, a disturbing image of her younger sister as a ferocious flesh-eating rotter sprang up in her mind's eye. She almost swallowed the sandwich in her fingers as she tried to shove aside such dark thoughts.

The rest of the dinner went so quickly that before she knew it, Elsa was already heading back upstairs . Her eyelids were begging her to let them close shut and she did not know how long it took or how it happened, but the last thing she remembered was the feeling of her body crashing against the soft mattress .

* * *

 _The skies were a bright orange as the sun's rays began to creep along the pavement. The roads were all pretty empty and garbage and stray pieces of paper were strewn across the area as if a hurricane had passed through. The three of them walked as quietly as they could as they neared the abandoned trading outpost._

 _'Everyone be on guard.', Hiccup mumbled as he locked his shotgun ready. Elsa and Tadashi hid behind a stationary military tank as Hiccup made his way round the compound, making sure they were alone. A few seconds later, they heard him clap and the two of them came out of their hiding spot and walked over to him._

 _'I'll keep a lookout. You two head inside and take what you it 't wanna get to comfy out here.', he ordered and turned around, like a military commando would, scouring the landscape with his hawklike gaze._

 _Elsa and Tadashi walked away, creeping inside the cargo building that looked like a giant department store from the inside. Rows and rows of supplies and food stock, remaining untouched. It was like a treasure trove in the middle of a desert._

 _'You got this?', Tadashi mumbled as Elsa nodded, taking a deep breath and tightening her grip on the hatchet._

 _'Okay. So I'll go get the medical stuff and anything else I cn find. You check out the food supplies and meet me back here in five.', he remarked with a smile and the two of them split up._

 _The area was empty, with the only other sound being Tadashi's footsteps across the floor that began to grow dimmer and dimmer by the second. Making her way to the trolleys and yanking one out, she began flipping all sorts of food packet and containers; anything she laid eyes on. It was a wonder—she'd never been able to shop so freely when it was a world filled with living , breathing people. She didn't have to push against the rough crowd in the store;She didn't have to ignore the badgering shop assistant who kept asking her to test out their new products. No, ironically, it was a lot more peaceful than it was before._

 _Spotting her favorite brand of cereal on the shelf, she placed her hatchet in the trolley and reached out to the carton, checking the expiry date. The last thing she wanted under the current circumstances was food poising ._

 _As she stood there, there was an sudden explosion of sound as the cartons on the shelf in front of her burst off from their spots, cascading to the floor noisily. Something red flashed in front of her and she felt ten, scaly fingers wrap themselves around her arm and she was looking down at froze to the spot in terror as she gazed down at the familiar face that was leaning towards her in an unnatural, horrific manner through the now hollow shelf row. But she did not look anything alike to what Elsa remembered of her. Her once big, curious blue eyes were now replaced with blank, white ones; her round face which always bore a bright, enthusiastic smile now sported a set of yellowing, gnarly looking teeth that were exposed due to a missing upper lip; her skin was waxy and sunken._

 _As she stood there in horror, staring at the shell of a body that used to be her sister, the rotter growled and sunk it's teeth deep into her arm._

Elsa sprang up in her bed, gasping for air. The room was not as dark as before and she could see the navy blue sky through the window—the sun hadn't fully risen yet. Her bed sheets lay strewn on the floor below her bed and her clothes were plastered to her. Touching her sweaty forehead with two clammy palms , she turned to see Heather sitting on her bed, hair stuck up in random directions, looking at her with what looked to be concern written on her face.

'You were … rollin around . Crying.', she mumbled as she handed Elsa a bottle from her bag.

'Thanks.', Elsa muttered as she gulped down some water and wiped her lips on her back of her hand, feeling her heart rate slow down.

'Don't worry. Yer not the only one having nightmares. I've not been able to sleep since … three thirty , ah think.', Heather remarked with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.

Just then, the two of them were interrupted by the sound of someone knocking softly on their door.

'It's open!', Heather called out and the doorknob turned and a dark silhouette , which they recognized to be Hiccup, walked inside.

'Are ya serious?', he chided with an irritable tone. They couldn't tell otherwise, since it was still mostly dark outside. 'There's a world full of undead monsters knockin on our doorstep and ya still can't bother to lock the damn door?'.

'Get off ma back!', Heather grunted and plunked back down onto her bed, hidden from view underneath her bed sheets.

Hiccup stared sternly at his sister for a little longer before his gaze shifted to Elsa.

'You wanna get ready quick. We're meetin Dashi outside the compound in ten.', he remarked before walking out the door .

Elsa glanced over at Heather and remarkably, she'd gone back to sleep. Her soft snores now filled the room as Elsa got up and pulled the top Heather had given her and grabbed her denim jacket. Looking around to make sure Heather wasn't watching, she tiptoed over and rummaged inside, searching for any sort of perfume or anything she might have to get rid of the horrible stink on her clothes. Having found her target, Elsa quickly sprayed it over her neck and on her jacket before placing it quietly back inside the backpack. She then headed over to the wall next to her bed and picked up her hatchet. Turning to the door, she checked on her roommate once more before shutting the door behind her.

The skies were still mostly dark, with a soft tint of blue coating the inky blackness. Even though the surrounding area experienced moderate temperatures during the day time, it was mostly cold, freezing breezes that blew at Elsa as she made her way through the empty central compound of the motel. She found Hiccup standing near the front gate of the compound, sharpening what looked like arrows . And the fact that he had a crossbow slung over his shoulder didn't help either.

'D'you think we'd really need that?', she inquired as she drew nearer to him, trying to ignore the shivering cold air simultaneously.

'Can't be too slack. If it comes to it, this guy's our best defense out there.', he answered, giving her a nod.

Placing the final arrow into his quiver, he locked it in place and slung it over his back before rummaging inside his jeans pockets and withdrawing a circle of keys.

'Dad found it yesterday in the one of the cubicles, attached to a rotter. Must've been the caretaker of the building. Poor bloke. ', he remarked as he unlocked the side gate , which was large enough to merely allow people or motorbikes through.

'So… where's Tadashi?', Elsa remarked as she walked through the gates.

'He went up ahead to pick a vehicle for us to move around quickly. Should be back any minute.', Hiccup answered as he locked the gates shut behind him.

'So any comments from my sister dear after I left you two?', he inquired inquisitively.

'No.', Elsa chuckled ,'She was already asleep by the time I got dressed.'

The two of them laughed for a few light-hearted seconds. Something she hadn't done in a while. It felt nice.

'Yeah… that's—that's Heather. ', Hiccup snorted.

'This one time—I remember when I wuz , maybe eight or nine—mom and dad were having another row at each other downstairs in our living room. Me'n Heather shared a room , which was…on the top floor I think, next to our parents'. So anyway… there I was, rollin around tryin to block out the sound of em and mah sister jus' slept through the whole damn thing like a log.'

They continued chatting like that for a few minutes, keeping themselves busy until they caught whiff of two sets of headlights heading in their direction from down the road. The two of them crept and hid behind the motel dumpster, just in case it wasn't someone they were expecting. Luckily, the familiar face of Tadashi smiling at the dumpster was what met their eyes a few seconds later.

Tadashi had managed to salvage what looked to be an ancient looking blue ford anglia. It's windscreens were all dusty and there were scratches and dents along the car's body frame. Hiccup threw himself into the set next to Tadashi while Elsa found herself sitting in the backseat, her precious hatchet still in her grip.

The trip to the outpost was fairly quiet, with Hiccup trying to tune in to find a radio frequency to no avail. Elsa spent the trip gazing out the window. She'd never seen a place so empty. They'd drive right through an entire neighborhood of quaintly furnished houses and there was not a single soul in sight. Leaves lay strewn on the vacant road , crows and other scavenging animal roamed the area. There was no sound or motion . It was like the place was frozen in time.

It took them nearly twenty minutes to reach the trading outpost the Hiccup had scouted from the map at the motel reception. As predicted, the compound looked abandoned. Nothing seemed to be moving in sight, save a for the occasional crows and rats that were scavenging the drove towards a short, squarish building near the center of the abandoned compound. It's maroon pain was decaying in many places and it's windowless exterior body didn't seem like it's been looked after that carefully. There was a rickety looking metal fence around the building , though what sort of security it offered against trespassers, Elsa didn't know.

The three of them got out of the car and walked over to the building, staying as quiet as possible. Hiccup drew out his crossbow and held an arrow in his spare hand, ready to fire just in case they were to attract some unwanted attention.

'It's locked.', Elsa remarked, holding the padlock in her hand.

'I always come prepared.', Tadashi remarked with a smile and headed back to the car, opening the trunk and retrieving a set of large, adjustable clippers.

'Found it at the garage I got the car from.', he mumbled as he opened the device and placed the chains of the padlock in between and using all his strength, clamped down on it. It immediately cut the metal chains locking the fence in two and it cascaded to the floor in a small heap.

Hiccup swung the fence gate open and the three of them walked in. Tadashi made use of the clipper once again, unlocking the padlock that secured the twin metal doors of the cargo warehouse . Together, they swung open the door and leapt back, weapons at the ready in case they were bombarded with rotters. But nothing came. They stood there, staring at rows and columns , unmoving and passive in the dark. Tadashi drew out a flashlight from his pockets and pointed it ahead of them. Once the area looked safe enough, Hiccup turned to the other two , his eyes darting around the area.

'I'll go look for munition and any ammo.', he remarked before turning to Tadashi.

'You handle the medical stuff. And Elsa , try an' find any food supplies.'

Elsa and Tadashi nodded and the trio split up, heading off in different direction.

Elsa pulled out the flashlight Tadashi had given her and shone the light on the nearest shelves. Books. Hand-phones. Dog food. On the fifth shelf from the main entrance, her eyes caught sight of a packet of rice with specks of dust collected on it. The place hadn't been open for a while longer than five days. That much she knew. She opened her backpack and began gathering all and everything she laid eyes on. Whatever she managed to grab, was valuable for the group with what the world was outside, stuff like that was hard to come by. If anything , she knew that, since she'd seen how the department stores were all pillaged back in the city. She began to wonder how many cities like Atlanta had been hit. The others said that there was no electricity and all the phone lines were dead so that had to mean at least the seaboards were hit.

Having cleared one of the shelves , she turned on her heel to head to the next set , but what stood inches away from her made her heart lurch up into her throat. Standing a bare four feet away was a male rotter, it's blank, pale eyes staring into Elsa's own blue one . Within seconds, it was on top of her, clawing at the air and snapping it's yellowing , scabby teeth at her.

'AAAARGH!', a horrible scream of terror shot out of Elsa's open mouth as she struggled to keep the monster at bay. Clenching her teeth, she swung her hatchet around and sunk it deep into the rotter's neck. But to her complete shock, the thing did not die, nor did it seem affected in any way. No, it kept growling and snapping at her, now with the hatchet embedded halfway into it's neck.

'PLEEASE! HELP! Ngh—', Elsa cried as she tried to fend off the creature but it was of no use. It's snapping teeth were mere seconds away from tearing away at her neck when all of a sudden, there was a flash of wood and a second later, there was an explosion of a thick, blackish liquid and the rotter collapsed on top of her, moving no more.

Pushing the thing aside, Elsa lay there on the ground, her chest heaving, staring at Tadashi who seemed to have lost the color in his face. A baseball bat was locked in his grip, with it's striking end coated with the blood of the rotter, dripping to the floor.

'T-thanks.', Elsa panted as he helped her back up.

'Why the hell was it targeting you?', Tadashi mumbled, gazing down at the rotter.

'I.. I think It could smell my perfume.', Elsa muttered weakly as Tadashi gave her an incredulous look.

The sound of hurrying footsteps echoed through the warehouse and seconds later, Hiccup charged into view from behind one of the many shelves, his crossbow armed ready. He only relaxed when he saw the two standing there with the unmoving rotter at their feet. From the looks of it, the man whom the rotter used to be must've been an employee or someone related to the compound, since he was still wearing his government uniform .

' It just came outta nowhere. I tried killing it but it didn't seem affected!', she panted in residual shock as she yanked the hatchet out of the creature's neck.

Hiccup nodded and walked towards the rotter, examining it closely like a scientist would to his test subject. He nudged the creature's head lightly with his boot and pursed his lips.

'I think I know how tuh take these things out.', he mumbled as the other two glanced at each other in confusion.

'Remember tha' rotter we ran into down in the sewers? It only stopped after she hit the bastard in the head.', he remarked, glancing at the other two. 'Same as this one. _And_ the ones Fred shot back in the city. One of the bullets must've hit the rotter's head by accident.'

The three of them stood there in silence of a few prolonged seconds as the revelation dawned on them. Now it made sense why Kai—or rather, his reanimated body , had stopped the moment Elsa had accidentally fired him in the head.

'Well come on! We gotta go tell the others!', Tadashi exclaimed in exhilaration .

The other two agreed but Hiccup decided to gather a bit more food supplies before they packed up and headed towards the front door. They must've been inside the warehouse and lost track of time, since the sun was already up in the sky when they finally made their way out of the building and began piling their findings into the trunk of the car. Making sure there was no one following them and no rotters in the path, the trio set off, driving back the way they came along the long , deserted road.

As they drove back to the motel, they began to sense that something was wrong. The more closer they got, the more and more rotters they seemed to be running into, most of them limping across the winding road, growling and stretching out their limbs at them as the car passed by. Hiccup even drove over some of the stragglers, striking them head on and driving over their rotting bodies. But the number of rotters just kept growing. What was happening?

'Oh shit….', Hiccup breathed and saw him and Tadashi staring forward through the windscreen up ahead.

Wondering what had caught their attention, Elsa leaned forward , only for her eyes to reel wide open as she caught sight of a whole horde of rotters, maybe at least fifty of them, clamoring outside the gates of the motel, their claustrophobic moans hanging precariously in the air. The trio spotted the rest of their group behind the gates, shooting at the few rotters who'd managed to climb their way over the fencing. But they were attacking the creatures at anywhere but the head. There were a few accidental shots that caught the rotter in the head and killed it but it was clearly evident the group had no idea what they were doing and were struggling to keep the creatures at bay.

'How the heck did they find us?', Tadashi muttered in shock as Hiccup bent down and began rummaging inside his rucksack, checking out the weapons. He pulled out four or five magazines and put three of them in his own jacket pockets before handing two to Elsa, who merely stared down at the clips and then back at Hiccup, not understanding what he wanted .

'They don't have much ammo left. We gotta get there and help em.',Hiccup explained as he zipped the ammo bag shut and slung it placed it on his lap before yanking back the handbrake, keeping the vehicle stationary.

'Me and Elsa can try and get inside through the back. I don't see much of rotters there. But we need you tuh create a diversion. Something really loud to get their attention. ', he remarked as he looked around to make sure that there were no rotters in close proximity.

As she followed Hiccup out of the car, Elsa grabbed her hatchet and the bag next to her and together, the two of them hurried across the road , barely twenty feet away from where the horde of rotters were gathered, and crouched behind a nearby dumpster.

Barely a second after they'd made it behind the dumpster, the sound of a vehicle horn exploded through the air and the two of them turned to see Tadashi slamming his palm into the steering wheel .

'What the hell's he doing!?', Elsa hissed in shock , attempting to run over back to the car,only to have Hiccup yank her back down . He nodded towards the front gate and to her surprise, the rotters had begun turning away from the gate and were slowly making their way towards the car where Tadashi sat waiting.

'He's drawing em away. ', Hiccup muttered and the two of them waited as the rotter crowd began to thin out .

When the found their opening, the two of them made a dash towards the fence, slashing at the heads of straggling rotters on their way. Once they'd made it over the gates, they hurried over and rejoined their group, who looked like they'd just run a mile long marathon.

'Everyone okay?', Hiccup asked as he hugged Heather .

'Dad's at the back takin down the few that managed to get over the back fencing.', she panted.

Everyone was so caught up in the relief that it took Elsa a full minute to register that they had a new member in the group; he was a plump, peachy looking fellow who had the size of two baby rhinos put together. His eyes were small and squinty and his non-existent neck was turning around nervously In every direction, as if expecting rotters to fall out of the sky again.

'And who's this?', Hiccup blurted out, now having noticed the new guy.

'We saw him down the street. He was cornered by a group of rotters and he began firing at them—we couldn't just leave him out there to die.', Heather answered despondently .

The fellow wiped his short blonde locks out of his eyes and nervously placed his pistol in his pocket, holding out a sweaty hand for Hiccup to shake.

'HiI-I'm Chris. O-or you can call me Christopher. Both's fine really.' , he stammered . He looked like the guy who'd never even gotten into a fight with anyone before. Like those kids in the school yard that the bully would pick on. His unathletic figure only accentuated his demeanor.

Just then, the distinct sound of metal colliding against gravel echoed through the air and the familiar voice of boomed through the air.

' WE GOT A BREACH!'.

The group bolted back towards the back end of the motel to find that the back gates had given way , unable to hold against the collective mass of the bodies and at least thirty rotters were clamoring in, snapping their jaws . Mister Haddock stood before them, firing his rifle at their bodies in vain.

'Dad! Listen to me! Aim for their heads!', Hiccup yelled out as he pointed his crossbow at the oncoming rotters.

'Get back, son! Ah know what I'm do—', Mister Haddock began in a assertive tone.

'JUST SHOOT AT THEIR GODDAMN HEADS! IT'S THE ONLY THING THAT STOPS EM!', Hiccup yelled over his father's voice as he began firing his arrows and watched as the arrows impaled the rotters in the middle of their foreheads and almost instantaneously, they dropped down to the ground.

Understanding what they had to do now, the others followed Hiccup's leads, shooting at the heads of the rotters. Elsa, who didn't have a gun on her, began swinging frantically at any rotter within reach. Through all the chaos , she managed to catch a glimpse of more rotters appearing round the building blocks, as if dragging themselves towards a viable feast.

There was no time to think. The second she'd taken one rotter down and had unstuck her hatchet, another one would come stumbling to her. All she could do was hold on to the piece of metal in her grip and swing blindly, hoping she'd not catch one of their own by mistake.

Then, a sudden bloodcurdling scream of pain exploded through the air and she whipped around to the source of the sound. As her brain registered what she was seeing, her heart dropped to her stomach. There in front of her, stood Mister Haddock , struggling against the horde of rotters with a mingled look of terror and pain on his face, his eyes fixed onto a rotter that clung onto him, it's teeth embedded deep into the back of his forearm .

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